Simple tie rod end question

[turbo55]

Gotcha, thanks for the info. That's encouraging, I can put off potentially upgrading to an e36 until later.

That outer tie rod is tough! I wrested with the right side a lot today and tried heating it with a propane torch for a couple of minutes, I managed to turn it about half a turn. At that point I just took the whole tie rod assy off. I put it in a bench vise but I still can't get the damn outer out of the inner and I have a pry bar hooked on the old outer tie rod bj for leverage. I have penetrating oil on it and I'm thinking I'll put the assy over some charcoal tomorrow to get it nice and red since my propane torch can't do that. If it doesn't come off after that then I'll have to get new inner tie rods since I'll be out of options...

[jalopi]

FWIW ball joints and tie rods (or most joints like them) either use some kind of metal or nylon sleeve for the socket. Don't know what kind BMW uses for theirs, but the coals might heat it up to the point of melting the socket (if nylon)

orange bit is what i'm talking about

[turbo55]

I did the charcoal thing last night and it worked! Tie rods are separated and new outer screwed in fine. Nothing seems to have melted, the inner tie rod bj still moves around the same and feels the same. I will throw a quick coat of paint on the inner tie rod though cuz the coal did make some peel off.

[goldenbb]

If you have it all the way off now, I would recommend replacing the entire unit, inner and outer. Not sure from what wrote, but maybe you came to the same conclusion? Also, your rack is toast, but I guess you already know that. Best of luck, it gets easier.

Oh, and don't buy URO Parts anything unless you like re-doing the work.

[turbo55]

Yep, I ended up needing to replace the inners on one side in addition to the outer since when I finally wound out the outer tie rod out of it the outer's threads basically stayed in the inner's.
Probably gonna do a e36 rack upgrade next year, for now I just replaced the supply/return PS hose and flushed the system and put some Lucas stop leak in there, I'll see if that holds...

Yes, no URO, I was immediately suspicious of the dirt cheap prices. I put Moog tie rods in.